


Home for the Holidays

by invaderb0t (floralb0t)



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Cuddles, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Secret Santa 2019, Snowed In, adult domesticity, home for the holidays, theres like.. a background resisty story but like dw, this is nothing but sweetness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 10:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralb0t/pseuds/invaderb0t
Summary: This is for the Secret Santa 2019! I was given a whole suite of prompts to choose from and mixed my favourites to produce the most teeth rotting sweet thing possible.Happy Holidays!
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), ZaDr - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 72





	Home for the Holidays

Dib rolled over and pulled himself out of bed. His feet hit the ground with a thud and shivered at how cold the place was, now that he was out of. The room around him was cold, and Dib used that to force himself to get dressed faster. Still curled up under the blankets, Zim was stretching slightly. He listened with a smile his partner woke with a quiet purr.

"What are you doing, my Dib?" Zim asked with a yawn as he peeked out.

Dib laughed lightly and wandered back over to the bed after pulling his head through his shirt. “Getting ready for the day?” He leaned down and gave Zim’s forehead a light kiss. “We have to go back today, you remember that, right?”

“Zim remembers,” the alien grumbled, retreating back into his cave of softness. “But he doesn’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it, it’s your  _ job _ .” Dib chuckled and pulled the top blanket off the pile. “Remember, how having a job works? We’ve been on vacation,  _ Commander _ Zim, but we’ve got to get back to it.”

There came a distinct hissing sound from under the blankets as Dib removed another one from the pile. 

“C’mon, spaceboy!” He laughed, grabbing the third and final one. “It’s time!”

Zim looked up from the bed and glared at Dib. After a moment of harsh, angry eye contact, Zim stuck his tongue out. 

Dib smiled fondly. He’d been enjoying the vacation as well, and now that it was over he couldn’t say he wouldn’t enjoy just one more day of it. That said, his hands were aching to do something. He wanted to be up there, planning incursions of enemy space and decoding messages obviously not meant for his ears. 

Dib snickered at the pitiful pile of Zim in front of him and dropped all three of the blankets gracelessly on top of him. “I’ll go make us some coffee, Bug. Meet me in the kitchen when you’re up.”

He ignored the continued hissing coming from his bed and wandered out into the rest of the house. Returning to Earth was always a mixed bag of emotions for him, but Dib had to admit he liked coming back for New Years. It was good to see how his home planet changed while he was gone, and getting to check in Gaz and his dad was always worth it, even if neither of them seemed to give him the respect his position in the Resisty should offer him. 

The house creaked under him as he moved through it. Dib remembered his childhood of trying to break into the place only to find it empty of anything worthwhile. At least in the many years since then, Zim had installed a real bedroom. He chuckled to himself as he started the coffee machine and pulled out something to make breakfast with. Things were simple and quick enough Dib was sipping at fresh coffee and wandering around. 

“Leaving today?” The monotone voice of the computer asked as Dib made his way through the living room. 

“Should be,” he responded, taking another sip. 

The computer chuckled in its toneless way. “See you next year then. I’ll enjoy having the tv to myself again.”

“You watch tv?” Dib wasn’t  _ really _ curious, he honestly didn’t care, but politeness was key with the omnipresent machine that ran the house. 

The computer sighed. “Soap operas mostly.”

“Mmm.” The coffee was bitter and strong, but not enough to keep him awake for a full conversation about  _ tv _ with the computer. Dib wandered over to the window and glanced outside. “Lots of snow last night, huh. Gaz will hate that.”

“Four feet over the last two days. I hate your Earth blizzards.” Zim appeared in the hallway with a blanket covering all home like a plush cloak. “I assume we’re ‘snowed in’, Dib-Thing.”

Zim’s sudden arrival spooked Dib somewhat and he just barely kept himself from dropping the mug in his hands. “Hey babe,” he started as he regained composure. “Tea or coffee? And yeah, it looks like it.”

“Tea.” The walking blanket bundle that was Zim walked towards Dib and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. 

Dib knew better than to mention how hard Zim had to strain to reach. He did chuckle at it though, as he went back to the kitchen. “Are we going to visit Gaz before we leave?” 

“Zim doubts we would be able to. Use your brain, Fool-Boy. If the town is snowed in, how would we get to her?” Zim was peering out the window, rubbing off iced condensation. 

“Zim, the voot can fly.” Dib refilled his own coffee and got a mug of tea ready. He was shaking his head at Zim as he came back to hand it over. “Like, you know it flies right, snow is no problem.”

“What about  _ bees _ ?”

“Zim, we’ve been over this. Bees aren’t around in winter.”

“Well, that would still not solve the issue of getting  _ into _ your old home. Snowed-in is snowed-out, also.” Zim accepted his cup with a disdainful glance. 

The ship could probably clear the way for them to enter as well, but Dib decided not to argue the point. He’d just facetime Gaz later, he figured. “Alright, well. Finish your tea so we can get to packing, Bugboy.”

The blanket Zim was wearing began to lift off of him to show Zim, standing unbothered while his PAK legs extended and folded the blanket. “Packing will not be an issue.” He sipped at his tea. “I simply do not want to.”

“You don’t want to?” Dib chuckled into his second cup of coffee. “C’mon, Zim. That’s not very responsible of you.”

Zim scoffed in response. His PAK legs finished folding, one of them stopping to hold the blanket while Zim passed off his tea mug to another. With his drink safely stowed, the alien turned on his boyfriend with an almost predatory look. “Perhaps the responsibility I’m looking to maintain, is not my  _ job _ .” 

Dib chuckled a little nervously at that, somewhere between not quite sure and not quite believing what Zim was getting at.

“Zim wishes to ‘human cuddle’ more. And he  _ will _ get what he wants.” 

Dib gulped down the last of his drink just in time before Zim dove in to sweep him off his feet. “Woah, ha, hey!” He let out an exhilarated laugh as he tried to hold onto his now empty mug. “What are you doing, Zim?”

There wasn’t  _ that _ great of a height difference between the two, but Zim still had to crane his neck to reach Dib’s head for another cheek kiss. “Taking what is  _ mine _ .”

“We  _ do _ need to get back to work,” He struggled to say through yet more laughter. Zim’s antenna tickled. “They’re expecting us back, you know.”

Zim shrugged, the action raising and lowering Dib slightly. “The Resisty’s two greatest field agents can surely come up with a reason to get out of work for  _ one _ more day.” He paused, PAK legs setting down their items neatly on the floor before stowing themselves away. “Wait that’s it!” 

Zim dropped his cargo to strike a pose, causing it to exclaim.  _ (“Oof, fuck, ouch babe.”) _ He ran back over to the window and pointed out excitedly. “See all that snow? We’ll just say we’re snowed-in!”

Dib pulled himself back upright and rubbed at his back where it landed. “Zim we were just talking about that. Snow wouldn’t stop the Voot.”

“AHA!” Zim spun on him, eyes ablaze and cackling. “But don’t you see, Monkey-Dib? How many of our companions have been to Earth? Who would understand the  _ true meaning _ of the term, ‘snowed-in’?”

“Well, Tak and Tenn, and Skoodge. Definitely Skoo-”

“DON’T INTERRUPT MY SCHEMING!” There was no malice to it, but Zim cut him off all the same. Dib just shrugged and motioned for him to continue on. “Now, as I was saying. We should just say that we’re unable to return to base because of the weather! And then Zim can claim his mighty prize.”

“More cuddles?”

“More  _ Cuddles _ !” Zim laughed evilly and ran to scoop Dib back up. “Zim is a master liar! This plan cannot fail!”

Dib allowed it to happen, either this would work or it wouldn’t. He just clutched his mug tight. “So, are you going to call and try it out?”

“Of course!” He strode over to the Computer’s main screen, adjusting his grip on Dib while he did. “Computer! Contact the Resisty!”

“It’ll take a few minutes,” the computer warned. “You’re going to get bored and walk away.”

“I don’t care, just do it!”

“Alright, you asked for it.” The computer started it’s connection sequence. At about five minutes in, Dib climbed out of Zim’s hold and the two got into a short, play fight that ended with Dib’s mug broken in pieces on the ground and Zim looking way too proud. At ten, GIR had come out of hiding to eat the shards and disappeared back to wherever he had been hiding the whole vacation. By the time it finished connecting, around 20 minutes after starting, nobody was in the room. 

_ “Hello? Helloooooo?” _

Zim heard the sound of the computer picking up the call from the next room over and came scampering back to the living room. Dib followed soon after, but he decided to just lounge on the couch and leave everything to Zim. 

The alien quickly brushed himself off and stood tall in front of the screen. “Finally! I’ve been trying to contact you for  _ ages _ .”

On the other side of the call were a few other members of the Resisty, high rankers who all just happened to be the people Dib was figuring would argue the most. Someone in the back grumbled about how they’d been waiting for someone to come back to the call for  _ ages _ too. Dib had to keep from snickering at that. 

_ “Is something wrong?”  _ That was Skoodge, coming to stand closer to their screen beside Tenn. Lard Nar, Tak, and a few other familiar Irkens, Vortians, and other aliens hung out in the background, obviously watching but not talking. _ “Did somebody get hurt?” _

“No, no, everything is fine,” Zim waved the concern off. 

_ “Well then, why are you contacting us instead of, you know, coming back?”  _ Tenn asked and behind her, Nar nodded in agreeance.

Zim stuttered a moment but took the question in stride. Dib had to chuckle at that confidence, which earned him a quick glancing glare. “Well, okay, perhaps things are not  _ all _ fine. There has been an issue with… the Earthen weather.”

_ “The weather?”  _ Skoodge nodded after a moment. _ “I remember how troublesome it could be. What happened?” _

“We’re ‘snowed-in’ and unable to leave. The snow! It is simply too much.” He drew a hand across his face dramatically. “You are all aware how much Zim adores work! We would be there right now if we could!”

_ “Oh well that’s unfortunate,” _ Tenn sighed.  _ “I had a new transmission for you to decode, Dib.” _

Zim turned to him and gave him the biggest bug eyes possible. Obviously, the brat had realized that Dib could expose him. Dib rolled his eyes and sat up straighter on the couch. “Yeah, it’s really unfortunate.” He had to quell a snicker at Zim’s immediately grateful expression. “As long as it’s not urgent, you can leave it for me to take care of when we get in.”

_ “I don't think it is, Dib, so I’ll just have it forwarded to your station.” _

“Thanks.” He was a little disappointed, Dib genuinely enjoyed his job. That said, there wasn’t much room or time for intimacy in space. He was sure that as long as this stupid plan of Zim’s worked, he’d appreciate it in the end. 

Nar and Tak didn’t have anything to mention, they just nodded. “I’ve heard many horror stories about Earthen Weather.” Nar murmured. “Just stay safe you two.”

Zim spun back on the screen and smiled. “Yes of course! I will keep the Dib safe, and nothing on this pitiful planet is a threat to the great Zim!”

_ “Hey Zim,”  _ Skoodge was looking down at his hands.  _ “Isn’t ‘snow’ the term for frozen water? The cold-rain?” _

“Why, yes Skoodge! It is!” Zim grinned, pleased to be ‘educating’ his coworkers. 

Skoodge frowned.  _ “Well, then it shouldn’t be any issue. I don’t see why you guys can’t just-” _

“Well, we warned you guys! We’ll try to head out tomorrow! Bye team, Commander Zim out!” Zim fake saluted with the biggest shit eating grin. “Computer, Cut the transmission!”

The screen faded to blackness with Skoodge and Nar looking suddenly concerned, and everyone else just shaking their heads. Zim cackled as he backed his way onto the couch beside Dib. 

“See Dib!” Zim gestured to the now dead screen. “It worked like a charm! We have gotten out of work for today!”

“We still have to go tomorrow, you know.” Dib laughed as he leaned over to grab Zim and pull him into his lap. “And Skoodge knows you’re lying.”

“Skoodge will keep his mouth shut if he knows what's good for him.” Zim exclaimed as he was moved. “That is tomorrow Zim’s problem though.”

“Today Zim just wants cuddles?” DIb laughed and peppered the side of his boyfriends’ face with small kisses.

Zim’s antenna wiggled as he laughed, a mix of pride, excitement, and just pure happiness. “And that’s what Today Zim shall have!” 

Dib just chuckled and kissed him again. It’d be good to have another day of vacation, actually. Work could wait. 


End file.
